Saturday, October 22, 2005

Chassidic rabbis implicated in Colombian drug trade

I will keep posting the criminal behavior that is so prevalent in the Jewish community. Let the readers decide how low the community has sunk and what to do about what has become acceptable behavior.

ERIC J. GREENBERGN.Y. Jewish Week

Berish Grunfeld, 64, president of the Bobover yeshiva and an executive director of Bobov's New York institutions, said nothing as federal prosecutors charged him and 11 others in a conspiracy to launder millions of dollars in illegal drug profits for Colombian drug dealers through the bank accounts of the yeshiva and synagogue of Bobov. The largest Chassidic sect in Boro Park and the second largest in the state after Satmar, it has perhaps as many as 30,000 adherents.

The complaint charges that Grunfeld and Rabbi Mahir Reiss, 47, laundered tens of millions in drug money through the bank accounts of the Bobover Yeshiva, Congregation Eitz Chaim and Chaim Shel Shulem, believed to be a free-loan society and apparently located at the Bobover World Headquarters on 47th Street.

They are accused also of helping the drug dealers buy an airplane that is commonly used to transport illegal drugs.

The rabbis and others allegedly skimmed 15 percent to 18 percent of each transaction for themselves, federal officials said.

"Money launderers are indispensable partners of major drug traffic, and the cynical act of using religious institutions to conceal drug proceeds is particularly reprehensible," declared Zachary Carter, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in announcing the charges at the downtown Brooklyn courthouse Monday.

Grunfeld and Reiss, as well as Reiss' brother Abraham, who also was charged, face up to 20 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines. They each were released on a $750,000 bond. Reiss secured his bond in part by committing his $3 million residence.

Reaction to news of the arrests on the streets of Boro Park was a mix of shock and anger. One resident, asked for comment, said testily, "Look elsewhere for a story."

Others, like Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represents Boro Park, downplayed the fact that those arrested were rabbis, saying, "Everyone in this community is a rabbi."

Still others stressed that the matter should be seen in personal, not communal, terms. And still others surmised that Grunfeld may not have been fully aware that the money he was allegedly being asked to launder was connected to the drug trade.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Dunst said evidence indicated that "Bernard Grunfeld knew that this was the proceeds of drug trafficking or was deliberately closing his eyes, which under the legal standard makes him criminally culpable."

It is not the first time a Chassidic sect has been linked with the billion-dollar Colombian drug cartels.

In 1994, Satmar Rabbi Abraham Low, married to the niece of the Satmar rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, was convicted for conspiring to launder drug money -- part of an international network that laundered up to $5 million a week. Other cases have involved a Brooklyn shtiebel (elementary school) and a Lower Manhattan yeshiva.

A 100-page federal complaint announced charges that the rabbis and other Orthodox Jews joined with five New York members of a Colombian drug gang to launder $1.75 million in drug profits.

The complaint said Grunfeld was brought into the operation by Reiss, president of Realex Capital on Park Avenue, and his brother Abraham, a real estate executive from the Upper West Side.

In the complaint, Reiss is referred to by other defendants as "The Rabbi," "Uncle" or "Barbas," Spanish for "beard." Abraham Reiss was known also as "Roomie."

Nine others were also indicted Tuesday, the result of a three-year federal undercover operation that employed wiretaps and other devices, authorities said.

Federal officials said the alleged Bobov-Colombian connection worked like this:

Three middlemen went from a Long Island home to Manhattan, where they would pick up the drug money from Colombian drug dealers. The three would bring the cash to a safe house, an apartment at 243 W. 75th St., to be counted. Investigators said Abraham Reiss would bring the money to Grunfeld, who would cut checks to people named on a list faxed to the Reiss brothers, according to Dunst, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case.

A key part of the scam, officials said, was the attempt to hide the bank transactions from federal authorities by keeping each check under $10,000 -- the amount that triggers automatic review by federal banking officials.

The complaint charges that Grunfeld and Israel Knobloch, who was also charged, created the structure to divide $1 million into 95 separate deposits to avoid federal scrutiny.

Its an old story, however, the damage done to Torah and chissidus is on going. How can we give money as Tzadah to these people, when we hear these stories. I do not want my money going to hoodlums who associate with drug dealers, especially hoodlums with payos.Its a disgrace. These people should be driven from their communties so others will learn a lesson. If they don't do it, then their children will come to respect criminals who dress like"holy" men. What a shame.

Scandal upon scandal continues as we sit here tonight.The rebbes are complicit in these crimes.Leib Pinter has been involved in one scandal after another for the last thirty years, yet Art Scroll published and promotes his book just a few months ago.Sick Bastards!

I know the facts of the Rav Abraham Low, he was totally setup by the police. And after he got out of jail, he was screwed over by the community. He didn't resume his previous posts, they kicked him out of the shul he ran, and he was forced to live on a different side of the community and maintains a low-profile life in a different shul (not as a Rabbi there). The government which hates yiddishkeit is setting up all these great Rabbonim.

Yea the police are out to get theserabbis!! What falsehood.These rabbis open themselves up tothese problems because they want to make a fast buck. They are not educated, and so drug dealing is the next best thing for quick cash. Yea'all these embezzalments are set ups.When we stop making excuses perhapes fraud will stop. The rebbes have to take responsibityfor this lack of morals and bussiness ethics. What a sad thing when excuses are made for stealing?You should be ashamed.

The ObserverFebruary 21 1993City: Dope, diamonds and deceit - A tale of two rabbis - An FBI 'sting' has uncovered links between a master fraudsman and a 'holy network' for laundering drug moneyBY MICHAEL GILLARD

FUGITIVE international conman Joseph Prushinowski, the robbing rabbi turned Robin Hood who has been implicated in frauds which could cost banks in Britain, Europe and the United States up to pounds 200 million, has surfaced in a scandal which has rocked Orthodox Jewish communities in the United States and Israel.

Prushinowski was closely involved with a prominent local rabbi who was arrested in Los Angeles last month following an FBI 'sting' operation.

Rabbi Abraham Low was charged with money-laundering and bank fraud after boasting to an FBI undercover agent that he could handle up to dollars 5 million a week of drug money through a 'holy network' of diamond dealers and bank accounts held by religious charities. Bail has been set at dollars 500,000.

Low and Prushinowski, using the alias Joseph Weiss (his wife's family name), had previously been involved in at least one fraudulent scheme which victimised the Bank of America.

This revolved around a 'cheque kiting' fraud, obtaining credit by 'cross-firing' larger and larger worthless cheques drawn on an offshore 'paper' bank controlled by Prushinowski between a dozen or more bank accounts in California and Israel controlled by Low for supposedly religious purposes.

Prushinowski was also involved in issuing dollars 160 million of worthless promissory notes from three Swiss-controlled British 'letter box' companies which were sold at a discount to European banks on the basis of fake guarantees from Bank of America. The name of a prominent member of Low's congregation was used as a director of two of the companies.

Prushinowski, who is wanted by the New York Police Department and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for a series of frauds dating back to 1986, has been living in Israel under the identity of Weiss. Attempts to have him arrested and extradited by the Israeli authorities have so far been frustrated.

Believed to have donated most if not all of the proceeds of a 20-year career of crime detailed by The Observer in December to Orthodox Jewish causes, Prushinowski is described by one investigator as 'a Hasidic Robin Hood'. This philanthropy is believed to have brought him considerable influence and protection in Israel.

Prushinowski is also the subject of an investigation by Scotland Yard's Fraud Squad into the collapse of a group of private property companies last year which resulted in banks, building societies and insurance companies facing losses of up to pounds 100 million.

Low, 42, is the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Satmar community in West Los Angeles which has links with the much smaller Hasidic community with which Prushinowski is connected.

Some months before Low's arrest he was shown a copy of the NYPD's wanted poster for Prushinowski but declined to identify him as 'Joseph Weiss' for religious reasons. Low is reported to have blamed Prushinowski for his financial problems.

'Weiss' bought three off-the-shelf British companies MBY, Jemma and Dimax during 1987 and 1988. All were owned by MBY AG in Zurich. Named as a director of MBY was Sol Kest, a leading Los Angeles developer and a member of Low's congregation.

Records at Companies House show that Kest was purportedly a director from June 1989 until April 1990. Told this by The Observer, Kest declared: 'I know nothing about it.' Kest said he had 'not heard of' Joseph Prushinowski or Joseph Weiss.

Also shown as a director was a 'Joseph Reich' of New York, later replaced by a 'Joseph Reichmann' from Toronto who gave as his address the then headquarters of the Reichmann property empire. The ultra-Orthodox Reichmanns, whose Olympia & York group collapsed last year, have close ties to the Satmar community. However, Reichmann family sources confirmed to The Observer that there was no 'Joseph Reichmann'.

Bank of America has been involved in negotiations to settle claims from up to 20 Dutch and Swiss banks which accepted worthless MBY paper issued during 1989-90. This is believed to have cost the bank up to dollars 40 million. Bank of America subsequently complained to the FBI, and called in leading international investigator Kroll Associates to unravel the fraud.

Then during 1991 Bank of America discovered that 50 blank cashier's cheques had been stolen from a West Los Angeles branch. Three months later Low's wife is alleged to have deposited one of the stolen cheques made out for dollars 496,000 into an account at another bank.

Within 24 hours she withdrew all but dollars 3,000 in four cashier's cheques made out to separate payees. When told that the original draft was stolen Low returned only the last cheque, leaving the bank with a dollars 345,000 loss.

Low claimed the stolen cheque had been given to him 'out of the blue' as a loan.

Low's arrest came after a tip-off from an alleged accomplice in custody on another matter. This led the FBI to mount a 'sting' operation using an undercover agent posing as a loan shark and dr ug dealer.

According to an affidavit from FBI special agent Cameron Saxey, the informant said Low and an associate, Alan Weston, a local chiro- practor turned financial consultant, were dealing in stolen cheques.

Weston later allegedly told 'Ronny' the undercover agent that they could handle dirty money though what was described as a 'holy network' of bank accounts held by charitable organisations. Weston claimed the cash would be delivered by couriers to Hasidic diamond dealers in New York known to Low and wired to banks in Europe.

Low allegedly told 'Ronny' he could transfer 'millions of dollars' through the charities with which he was connected. He claimed to be able to launder dollars 1 million a week, building to dollars 5 million. The money was to go to Switzerland and would then be returned via charity accounts. The rabbi was arrested after excha nging dollars 10,000 of drug-tainted notes for clean bills.

According to local reports, Low had run into difficulties over an ambitious apartment and school building programme for his congregation. He was said to have borrowed extensively for real esta te deals and been caught out by the fall in property values.

Estimates of his debts were put at dollars 18 million. Many of these loans were from members of his congregation several of whom left after he was unable to repay.

Low was reported to have been offered dollars 60,000 to resign as rabbi, get out of town and not return for 10 years.

Low told his congregation last year that he had been the victim of 'an international conman'. His attorney, Mitchell Egers, told The Observer he knew nothing about the rabbi's dealings with Prushinowski or Weiss.

I know Low's personal secretary. Luke Ford, you got the whole story wrong. What used to happen was that these Rabbis from Israel used to come to LA to collect money, and everytime they would get an American check, the Israeli banks would give them a surcharge per check, so instead of paying alot in surcharges, those collecting money would have the donors make their check out to "Mogen Avraham" (the name of Low's old shul), and then in the end, the Shul would make out one big check to the collector with only one surcharge instead of a bunch. Because the Shul made out such big checks all the time, the Gvn't got suspicious so they sent in a guy pretending to be collecting Tzedakah to "launder" money through Low, and Low, not knowing anything about such things, agreed and he was thus arrested on the spot. Low used to daven on Hoshana Raba at the Chassidish Kollel in LA even when he was in jail, it was a yearly event that many people looked forward to attending.

A rabbi, a physician and an accomplice have been arrested for allegedly taking part in what authorities called a $2 million "holy network" involving money laundering and Hasidic diamond dealers.

Rabbi Abraham Low, 42, of Temple Mogen Abraham in the Fairfax district, and Alan Weston, 50, a Hollywood physician, were arrested Monday by the FBI. Also arrested was a woman known to the FBI as "Charlie" who has used the alias of Bernadette Chandler.

Low was charged with money laundering and Weston with aiding and abetting money laundering, offenses that carry a maximum 20-year prison term, said FBI spokeswoman Karen Gardner. Chandler was charged with bank fraud, which carries a maximum five-year term.

In a sting operation, the rabbi laundered $10,000 in supposed "drug money" from an undercover agent and the woman set up a $1.5 million deal with the agent, whom she offered to sell assault rifles and other weapons, the FBI said.

The sting was organized after authorities discovered a $500,000 laundering scheme involving a stolen bank check.

The Los Angeles Times quoted unidentified rabbis as saying that Low and his synagogue were in bad financial shape, and could have lost as much as $18 million because of Low's poor investment of the congregation's money.

According to the indictment filed Friday in federal court, informant Christopher Golasz said that at Low's request he had contacted "Charlie" in 1991, and arranged for the purchase of a stolen Bank of America check.

He and Weston then gave it to Low, who paid Golasz $30,000 and two diamond rings.

The FBI set up a sting with Golasz, who introduced Weston to an undercover FBI agent posing as a loan shark and drug dealer named Ronny.

"Weston told Ronny that he and Rabbi Low had the capability of laundering substantial amounts of illegally obtained, or 'dirty,' money on a weekly basis," the FBI affidavit said. "Weston described what he called the 'holy network' of bank accounts held by charitable organizations through which the money would be channeled.

Ronny wanted a test transaction with $10,000. After it was concluded, and several planning conversations recorded, the three were arrested, the FBI said.

There were nine congregants at Lowe's shul who were actively involved in laundering their dirty money through the shul, the main thieves being Sol Kest, Jaime Deutsch and Armin Mandel.They gave Lowe millions of dollars of cash in L.A., and the money wound up in Switzerland and in Israel in "legitimate" bank accounts.These three guys are still paying Lowe to keep quiet, and support him and his family, in addition to "buying" him a light sentence.

OK guys, you are missing the point.I have a series of ten postings that will demonstrate to all that have a brain how widespread the thievery has gone.THERE IS NOT AN HONEST PERSON IN THE ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITY IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS.ALL THIS STEALING IS TRACED TO THE REBBES DIRECTLY.NOTICE THAT THE BANK ACCOUNTS THAT MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ARE BEING LAUNDERED THROUGH ARE THE ORGANIZATION'S ACCOUNTS.NOBODY TELL ME THE TOP CROOK DID NOT KNOW!STAY TUNED!

Lowe's entire family, including his father, brother and the entire present Satmer clan have been in trouble with the law for thirty years plus.His brother did jail time as well, and his father is a known money launderer through Satmar.

the problem is we ,all of us, let these "people" get away with this .They use their "holy" appearance as a guise to fill their fat bellies and desires at our expense.Im a frum hard working jew who has to prove my honesty on an ongoing basis because these low lifes want to make a fast dollar. We should shun them and chase them from our communities.

Chazak and Yosher Koach UOJ and Whistleblower. Dont stop. These fabreches and folshticks fabreches should be the the first ones on trial in front of the reinstated Sanhedrin. In fact this kind of issue would be a good litmus test of the Sanhedrins genuine desire to lead per Hashems Torah and not worry about appearance if they have to send all these tzadikim to the keleh.

I have the names, addresses and phone #'s of seventeen people that will testify against Kolko.Mostly victims, they will go public even though they risk everything.Two doctors who treated the victims, four parents and two former associates of Kolko.I have just begun to accumulate the list.Come on J.J., tell your friend/relative to BRING IT ON!

A scandal like this would bring down the Catholic Church.Synagogues and rabbis laundering drug money is worse, much worse than the pedophile scandal at the church.Shame on you Jewish people for keeping these people in power.Utterly shameful.

Don't kid yourselves, I'd never give up being a Jew to being what you are.If ever a religion arose that was based on plagerism, Christianity is the one that takes the cake.If you guys think that Jews are sick, guess what Jesus was? Nope! he wasn't a Roman Catholic or a Protestant minister. He was a JEW!And, if you think being a pedophile is better than laundering money, you're probably a sex offender. No sane person with children would EVER agree with you.

unortho, you are looking in old garbage to open new wounds what is your purpose this story of bobover administrator is an old story and hos no remote resembelance to what bobov is today it was a mistake and this people involved paid money and time in jail for this if teshuva helps why are you acting like a goy and do not forgive - as the mishna says after a pesak din,that they are called tzadikim shekibil alayhem hes hadin ( although here it was a dina demalchusa dina issue )unless you have a different issue with bobov please explain and maybe we can clarify or fix your hurt

all I know is that "special agent Cameron Saxey" is as bad a man as anyone he investigates. He is a liar, an intimidater and a disgrace. He has destroyed so many innocent lives I hope someone pays him back someday.

Please dont pester on our Jewish brothers with that kind of groundless righteousness. Catholic institutions don't necessarily have clean hands either... Sure, maybe not money laundering.. But how does covered-up child abuse sound to you? I fail to see how stealing/fraud would be worse than direct physical/psychological harm.

Let's make sure our floor is clean before pointing out the dirt on other people's floor.